Bhide causeway in Deccan Gymkhana area to remain shut again for three months for Pune Metro work

Pune: The Baba Bhide causeway in the Deccan Gymkhana area will remain shut again for around three months to assist with Metro work. The road users are appealed to travel via Z-bridge, via Lakdi bridge or Balgandharv Rangmandir bridge to cross the river. Maha Metro on Monday said that it has received approval from the city traffic police department to close the causeway till Sept 5 for the work of a foot-overbridge (FoB) which is coming up exactly above the Bhide causeway connecting the Deccan Gymkhana Metro station and Narayan Peth.

While the causeway will remain shut for vehicles, the riverside roads on both sides will remain open for traffic. Maha Metro will put up boards on both sides of the causeway to alert commuters about closure of the facility for vehicles.

The Metro administration had shut the causeway for works last year. However, it was reopened ahead of Ganeshotsav. After that, the causeway was kept open for vehicles during daytime and used to remain shut only during night hours. Regular commuters in the area said the administration should not shut the facility during daytime. “The Lakdi bridge always remains overburdened with vehicles. The authorities must allow vehicular movement on Bhide causeway during daytime. The administration should also set a deadline to finish all the pending work of metro FoB which has been dragging for many months,” said Amol Wakade, a regular traveller in the area.

Sandeep Sakhare, another commuter, raised a question on how closure of the key causeway would help complete the Metro work, which may hamper at the time of release of water during monsoon. Officials said the water release will not affect the work to a large extent. “We will prepare a plan according to water discharge and rainfall. There is a plan to finish the work at earliest,” officials said.